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Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, helped revive it earlier this year, generating bipartisan support in the House for the Center for Civic Education's grant application to the federal Secretary of Education.
The Center got its three-year grant, estimated at nearly $17 million nationwide, and early next year local teachers will host colleagues from the eighth and 12th grades as they learn more about the Constitution.

The anticipation is building. Stories and news reports are popping up everywhere. Predictions and expectations fill coffee shops and social media. No, I’m not talking about the 2024 Olympics in Los Angeles. I am talking about El Niño. And, chances are that it will arrive this winter along with plenty of precipitation.

The Petroglyph Festival was just declared a Ridgecrest Signature Event, but the Parade of 1,000 Flags, which honors the memory of those killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, celebrates the patriotism of the community — a fact not lost on House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The event’s keynote speaker, McCarthy said he considers Ridgecrest home, and later added that “I will put this city up against any city in this country” in terms of patriotism. “I want to thank you for allowing me to be the Grand Marshal.”

In what has become a signature event for the city, the eighth annual parade will feature U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy as the grand marshal, along with city and Navy dignitaries, emergency service personnel, an honor guard of veterans and hundreds of residents proudly participating in the patriotic display.

"First, I want to congratulate my friend Jean Fuller. The California Senate will be well-served under her leadership and California's future will absolutely be brighter as a result. I know Senator Fuller will bring the blue collar attitude that is ingrained in the Central Valley to this leadership position and will fight for a freer and more prosperous California.

Despite last-minute attempts by Central California Republicans to get some form of legislation passed to address how California manages water and to avert another disaster, Democrats in Congress, many of those California Democrats, blocked the attempt and now any legislation dealing with the drought in this state is dead until well into next year.

On Monday House Republicans debated a bill crafted in part by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and supported by Rep. Jim Costa that would provide a short-term salve to Californians south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The White House has threatened to veto the bill, which will be voted on Tuesday.

"The GOP has passed drought relief measures during the past two congressional sessions. This time, GOP lawmakers pursued a bill that's much closer to what Sens. Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer helped pass in their chamber. The new effort, for example, scuttled the previously passed language that directed agencies to operate without regard to the Endangered Species Act. The latest effort takes a more targeted approach. … Both senators said they could not support the House bill."